Media Molecule Reportedly Working On Open-World PlayStation Game New IP

A recently discovered developer portfolio hints at ambitious open-world gameplay systems and traditional game-focused design elements.

According to newly discovered portfolio material linked to Media Molecule, the studio may finally be branching out beyond Dreams with a completely new project that seems to rely much more heavily on traditional gameplay. The PlayStation developer, best known for Dreams and LittleBigPlanet, has been rather quiet since Dreams' failure to achieve the long-term popular success many had hoped.

The ambitious creative platform was praised for its creativity and advanced user-generated features but ultimately lacked the huge, long-term player base that Sony had hoped for. One of the main complaints of Dreams was that it was more like a complex game-creation tool rather than a game that you could just jump into and have fun with.

Many fans believe the game would have benefited significantly from a PC version, especially as Sony started to strengthen its presence on the PC platform in subsequent years. That migration never transpired, though, and Dreams remained mostly tied to PlayStation systems.

Now, some fresh details found from an online portfolio may offer the clearest sign yet as to what Media Molecule may be working on next. This seems to be the portfolio of a senior environment artist who has been at the company since April 2025, and it references an "unannounced project," noting specifically that it is new IP.

Open-world content, level documentation, 2D layouts, points of interest, gameplay scripting, level design, and moment-to-moment gaming systems are all included in the list. The statements immediately got long-time PlayStation fans excited because the language feels much more like a traditional video game experience than Dreams' more tool-focused structure.

The New Media Molecule Project seems to be much more game-centered than Dreams.

For many of those players, this shift to a games-first strategy is exactly what they've been waiting for from Media Molecule for years. Dreams was technically fantastic, but many fans felt the balance between gameplay and production tools was too weighted towards development systems rather than player experiences.

LittleBigPlanet, on the other hand, successfully combined both ideas. Players could go on a full-blown platforming adventure, but also dabble with authoring tools and download user-made levels from the community. That balance is what made LittleBigPlanet one of PlayStation's most beloved creative properties.

It's kind of the same idea of what many hope Media Molecule will do with their next project. The main game comes first, and user creativity is second, but very important. There are fans who want the perfect scenario to be a game that feels like "70 percent game and 30 percent creation tools," rather than the inverse structure that they identify with Dreams.

The studio's survival has also become a hot topic among the PlayStation community. In recent years, Sony has been aggressively restructuring parts of its first-party operations, shuttering projects and studios that don't have near-term financial prospects. Even with all the industry changes, Media Molecule has been busy, showing that Sony still values the developer's originality and unorthodox ideas.

The company has never failed to deliver experiences unlike anything else in gaming, which is maybe why PlayStation officials have continued to support the crew despite Dreams' low commercial performance. That creativity is still Media Molecule's strongest suit.

Sony still backs Media Molecule with all of the key PlayStation Studio reorganization projects.

Even when the games aren't big mainstream hits, the company tends to come up with gameplay ideas and community-driven systems that you don't see very often in the rest of the business. Fans are hoping the next PlayStation reveal will finally show off Media Molecule's enigmatic new direction. Sony hasn't officially announced the project, but speculation has already begun as to when it will be unveiled.

Other fans are hoping a future PlayStation State of Play event would reveal the title, but that seems unlikely given how early in the production process the game appears to be. There is also a growing feeling that Media Molecule may ultimately bring players in directly through early access testing, closed beta programs, or community-driven feedback systems, as it has with earlier projects.

It's always been part of the studio's character to have a creative interaction with players. For now, though, the freshly revealed portfolio data are the strongest evidence yet that Media Molecule is gearing up for a major new chapter—one that might marry the studio's unique creativity with a much greater focus on gameplay and world design.